If someone proclaimed themselves an "open source dev" but didn't know linux
to at least some extent, my inside voice would dub them heretical and
proclaim yet another fool that doesn't even know what they're saying. I
would probably be compelled to at least ask sarcastically just exactly what
open source they work with then, as microsoft or mac anything certainly
isn't. If something *is* developed as open on windoze, it's likely
cross-platform by nature, probably works worst under microsoft trying to
make a square peg fit a round hole, and the person handing the windoze port
hates their life.
As a "non-developer" infrastructure geek, working with a lot of devs over
the years I tend to throw developers into around 4 different buckets,
mostly windows, linux, application, or hardware devs.
1) Windows devs tend to be all about the MS Visual * IDE's for things
microsoft, or some other framework built around microsoft-y languages. They
usually went through some college or tech school that was funded on grants
by Microsoft kickbacks, started at mastering Excel, and moved to Visual
Basic, C++ or just blob together stuff in a .net hybrid framework.
Probably don't even know how to maintain, network, or secure even the
windows server they work atop, and pretty narrow in vision around their
given choice of dev languages or frameworks.
2) Linux devs are usually versatile hacker types, jack of all trades,
masters (eventually) of a few, probably never bothered with much "higher
education", but know their way around not only their code but also the
systems they run on. They usually know networking well enough to tcpdump
things or setup bonded interfaces, know at least basic security, and know
enough to set up their own web servers, runtime environments, or whatever
they work in most. They probably know more about windows than windows devs
do, and tell no one lest someone makes them do that too. They're either
hardcore and use a linux desktop, otherwise probably a mac, or hate their
lives stuck using a corp windoze laptop and living through an ssh client.
3) Application devs tend to be abstracted from any OS, usually more
involved writing glue between services and frameworks more on the backend,
or more focused on front-end UI for users glued to backend services. These
folks are usually not concerned with the OS or systems they run on, so long
as the OS has a means of running their code directly, or some client ala
web browser or dedicated front-end to access it. They just need a place to
drop code that works to do what they're creating, only know enough
server/OS to triage their runtime environment basically, or they go find
someone to fix their environment whatever OS it's on. I usually lump
database folks in here too generically, as some like this and other
applications/services can be massively complex in their own right that an
OS is the least of their concerns - Oracle and SAP folks are good examples
of this.
4) Hardware devs tend to be interesting folks, like baby pigeons, they're
often heard but never seen. I occasionally meet them working with
infrastructure hardware vendors, and usually pretty interesting folks, but
all kinds of different mad scientists. I find them more like applications
folks that just need access to whatever OS their development environment
works best on, be that windows, mac, or linux and only know enough to
support their use of the tools. More and more this changes still as almost
any hardware including networking, storage, embedded device systems, or IOT
gadget runs linux today, so even in hardware development there is no
escaping it fully.
Is it fair to expect cross-platform skill or expertise? No, but these days
it can only help as orgs move toward "cloud", and the cloud is probably 80%
linux from the network hardware to the hypervisors that run your little
windoze system on. NOT knowing ANY linux is merely sticking your head in
the ground hoping it will go away, until it eats you. Hell, even Microsoft
Azure's best selling product is linux, so it's not hard to understand why
the Beast of Redmond is finally playing nice(er) with linux. It's a hard
pill to swallow for those that have only ever known working on windoze,
those that won't evolve outside their bubble will probably die in their
careers doing so as with still 80% of desktops still using windows, Active
Directory, and all the supporting systems to keep it safe and secure,
someone has to support those stuck using it.
-mb
On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 11:12 AM Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss <
plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm a PHP developer and always thought all opensource developers had at
> least some knowledge of Linux.
>
> Recently I watched a YouTube video that stated otherwise. The presenter
> said it is important to know Linux which will set one apart from the
> crowd.
>
> I have been "messing"/"playing"/"working" with Linux since around 1998
> or so. Learned a lot and have a lot to learn. Thought all opensource
> developers had at least a fundamental understanding of Linux.
>
> Is it true most do not know Linux?
>
> And is it true that it is good, for a dev, to be able to put they have
> basic familiarity of Linux on their Resume?
>
> Thanks in advance!!
>
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